About Me

Saturday, December 8, 2007

You needn't agree with everything said over at one of my favorite websites, Lew Rockwell.com , in order to enjoy it. An open mind and the will to learn are the only prerequisites for enjoying the articles that are printed there.

History:The Lew Rockwell site sprang from the Ludwig von Mises Institute. From what I understand, they were forced to separate from the Institute once Ron Paul ran for President of the United States early this year due to campaign laws and the tax free status of the Institute. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here) Regardless, it retained its format of offering a dozen daily articles written by a semi-regular (and in some cases, regular) group that are either formally or informally attached to the Austrian School of Economics. Also included are a handful of off-site links to interesting news that might include science articles, food articles, and other random but fun ways to waste a little time in front of the computer.

Political Lean:The Lew Rockwell contributers are a mix of paleo-libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, paleo-conservatives, and more. The site describes itself as "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market". Generally, those most comfortable describing their politics in left-right terminology will be a bit confused until they check out the Nolan chart and see how libertarians have been trying to make the silly "left-right" continuum a two dimensional graph, which is far more descriptive of political beliefs.

What's a Paleoconservative?Paleos are generally those whose beliefs are consistent with the Old Right in values and philosophy. Check out Wikipedia's description which is far better and more thorough than I have time to write. Generally speaking, a paleo's philosophy is generally going to be in line with an old time conservativism that American Catholics should be comfortable and familiar with.

The libertarian and free market discussions on Rockwell's site are perhaps more foreign to Catholics, but I strongly recommend spending some time reading about the Austrian School. It is thoroughly Catholic, as argued for in Thomas Woods' book, The Church and the Market , which is an excellent and interesting read. If you are concerned with how a Catholic ought to view the economy and the free market, if you want to learn more reasons that socialism is evil, if you have a friend who keeps using the term "social justice", then you should read this and educate yourself.